Tribal Assembly

The Romans distinguished between two types of assemblies, the comitia (or comitatus) and the contio (contracted from conventio). The word comitia (going together), which was the plural of comitium (a purpose-built meeting place), referred to assemblies convened to make decisions on legislative or judicial matters or to hold elections. The word contio (coming together) referred to meetings where 'nothing was legally enacted'. They were convened to hear public announcements and pronouncements, speeches and debates, witness the interrogation of someone accused of in a trial and to watch executions. Opinions expressed in a contio did not have any legal validity.^[3] The tribal assembly was a comitia. Private citizens who did not hold political office could make speeches in a contio, but not before a comitia or a concilium.^[4] Voters always assembled first in a contio to hear debates or to enable canvassing by electoral candidates before voting. The actual voting took place in a comitia or concilium (for this term, see below).^[5]

Gellius wrote about a further distinction between comita and concilium, which he based on a quote from a passage written by Laelius Felix, an early second century AD jurist:

He who orders not the entire people (populus) but some part thereof to be present ought to proclaim not a comitia, but a concilium. Moreover, the [plebeian] tribunes neither summon patricians nor have the power to propose anything to them. Thus, measures which were accepted on the proposal of the plebeian tribunes are not properly called laws (leges) but plebiscites. Patricians were not bound by these bills until the dictator Quintus Hortensius [287 BC] carried that law whereby all the Quirites (the Roman people) were bound by whatever the plebs had determined.^[6]

This has been taken as referring to the assembly which was reserved for the plebeians (or plebs, the commoners), thus excluding the patricians (the aristocracy), and which was convened by the tribunes of the plebs (also called by modern historians plebeian tribunes) – see plebeian council. Since the meetings of the plebs excluded the patricians, they were not considered as representing the whole of the Roman people and because of this, according to Laelius Felix, the term concilium applied to them. By contrast, the term comitia applied to assemblies which represented the whole of the Roman people. Measures passed by assemblies of the whole citizen body were called leges (laws), whereas those passed only by the plebeians were called plebiscites (resolutions of the plebs). Until the lex Hortensia passed by Quintus Hortensius in 287 BC, the patricians refused to accept the plebiscites as being binding on them on the ground that, because of their exclusion, did not apply to the whole of the people.^[7]

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Contio

Contio

The contio was a public assembly in Ancient Rome, which existed during the monarchy as well as in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. At the contio, magistrates informed the Roman citizens on various topics related to politics. The main difference between the contio and other public assemblies in Rome, such as the comitia, is that the citizens who attended contiones did not get to vote. The contio merely served a communicative function, offering magistrates the opportunity to give the people a report of what had been decided during a senate meeting or to discuss a proposed legislative bill (rogatio) in front of the citizens to help them make up their mind before they had to vote on it in other assemblies. Magistrates also used the contio as a means of self-promotion, presenting themselves as capable and honest politicians who kept the interests of the people in mind, hoping to gain sympathy and support from the people.

Quintus Hortensius (dictator)

Quintus Hortensius (dictator)

Quintus Hortensius was an ancient Roman, appointed to the office of dictator in the year 287 BC.

Quirites

Quirites

Quirites is the name of Roman citizens in their peacetime functions.

Plebeians

Plebeians

In ancient Rome, the plebeians were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary.

Lex Hortensia

Lex Hortensia

The lex Hortensia, also sometimes referred to as the Hortensian law, was a law passed in Ancient Rome in 287 BC which made all resolutions passed by the Plebeian Council, known as plebiscita, binding on all citizens. It was passed by the dictator Quintus Hortensius in a compromise to bring the plebeians back from their secession to the Janiculum.

Quintus Hortensius

Quintus Hortensius

Quintus Hortensius Hortalus was a famous Roman lawyer, a renowned orator and a statesman. Politically he belonged to the Optimates. He was consul in 69 BC alongside Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus. His nickname was Dionysia, after a famous actress. After his retirement Hortensius took up fish-breeding as a hobby. Cicero spoke of him as a Piscinarius – 'fish fancier'.

Chart showing the checks and balances of the constitution of the Roman Republic

Andrew Lintott notes that many modern historians follow Theodor Mommsen's view that during the Roman Republic there were two assemblies of the tribes and that the ancient sources used the term comitia tributa with reference both of them. One was the assembly by the tribes which was used for plebeian meetings to which the patricians were excluded and which was convened by the plebeian tribunes. The other assembly based on the tribes was convened by the Roman consuls or the praetors and was an assembly of the whole of the Roman people (both patricians and plebeians). However, the ancient sources did not have a differentiation in terminology for the two of them and used the term comitia tributa for both.^[8]

Many modern historians use the term comitia tributa or comitia populi tributa (comitia tributa of the people) to indicate meetings by the tribes which involved the whole of the Roman people (populus) and the term concilium plebis or concilium plebis tributum (plebeian council by the tribes) for assemblies based on the tribes which were exclusively for the plebeians. However, they are not found in the ancient Roman literature related to the Roman Republic. Therefore, they denote a distinction which can be disputed. It is based on the text by Gellius quoted above.

Lintott notes that some modern historians reject the comitia tributa/concilium plebis distinction and the use of the quote by Gellius as its basis. They argue that this terminology is a convention established by modern historians which ancient writers did not make and that there was no assembly based on tribes other than the one where the plebeians met to vote and which was presided over by the plebeian tribunes, who submitted bills to its vote. References to laws which were submitted to the comitia tributa by the consuls in the ancient literature must have pertained to bills they presented to the comitia centuriata (the assembly of the soldiers, another voting assembly), a deviation from correct procedure found in the late Republic or instances in which these officials got the plebeian tribunes to propose bills for them.^[9][10][11] Lintott disagrees with the notion that there was only one assembly based on the tribes, which was the one of the plebeians. He notes that there are examples in which laws were proposed to the comitia tributa by the consuls, who did not preside over the assembly of the plebeians. Examples of such laws are the law which increased the number of quaestors to twenty, which was attributed to Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the lex Gabinia Calpurnia de insula Delo of 58 BC and the lex Quinctia of 9 BC. Moreover, the consuls conducted the elections of the curule aediles, who were not plebeian officials, before the tribes. Therefore, it is likely that the term comitia tributa was used both for the assemblies presided over by the consuls and the praetors and the assemblies presided over by the plebeian tribunes.^[12] One could add to this that Livy mentioned a comitia tributa which was convened by the consuls in 446 BC; that is, during the early Republic.^[13]

Forsythe presents a more recent account of the argument that the comitia tributa/concilium plebis distinction is a misplaced convention established by modern historians. He argues that it is found only in the quote by Gellius which comes from a text which was written in the imperial period; that is, after the fall of the Roman Republic and long after the assemblies of the Republic had ceased to function. This implies that Laelius Felix was not sufficiently familiar with these republican institutions. Forsythe argues that the distinctions between two assemblies based on the tribes "has no support in the extensive writings of Cicero and Livy, who must have been far more knowledgeable in these matters than Laelius Felix." Cicero lived during the late Republic. Livy was born during the late Republic and wrote a detailed history of the republican period. Forsythe also argues that the word comitia was used for formal assemblies convened 'to vote on legislative, electoral and judicial matters', and that concilium was a generic term 'for any kind of public meetings of citizens, including both comitia and contio.' His conclusion is that the mentioned distinction is an artificial modern construction with no authority in ancient texts, that 'the ancients speak only of a comitia tributa' and that it is likely that in Republican times there was a single tribal assembly known as comitia tributa.^[14]

According to the Roman tradition, in 494 BC, fifteen years after the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Roman Republic, the Plebeiany temporarily seceded from the city of Rome, which started the two hundred-year Conflict of the Orders between the Patricians (the aristocracy) and the Plebeians (the commoners). During this first secession, the plebeians created their own institutions which were separate from those of the Roman state, which at that time was controlled by the patricians, and were intended to protect the interests of the plebeians. These included the plebeian tribunes, the plebeian aediles and the plebeian assembly.

Forsythe takes the revisionist view further. He rejects the idea there was a plebeian assembly and maintains that the comitia tributa was an assembly of the whole of the Roman people and opines that the plebeian secession was a myth created in later times. Roman historians emerged in the late third and early second century BC, some three hundred year after the date attributed to this secession and the events of Rome's early history were poorly documented. Based on T. P. Wiseman's view that many of Rome's early historical traditions 'were created, propagated, accepted and reshaped' from the middle of the fourth century BC onward through dramas played on the stage at religious festivals^[15] Forsythe argues that the story of the plebeian secession was invented in one such performances to explain the origin of the temple of Ceres and its plebeian associations. It was inspired by Herodotus' account of how Telines, a ruler of Gela, a Greek town in Sicily, used the rites of Demeter and Persephone to bring back to Gela a group of political exiles. This story of civil discord, reconciliation and integration and the cult of Demeter was used to fabricate the tale of the first plebeian secession where the plebeians seceded from Rome but were then reconciled and returned to the city.^[16] The Ludi Ceriales (the games of Ceres) were held annually to celebrate the anniversary of the dedication of the temple of Ceres, which was dated by the tradition two years before the first secession.^[17]

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Constitution of the Roman Republic

Constitution of the Roman Republic

The constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of uncodified norms and customs which, together with various written laws, guided the procedural governance of the Roman Republic. The constitution emerged from that of the Roman kingdom, evolved substantively and significantly—almost to the point of unrecognisability—over the almost five hundred years of the republic. The collapse of republican government and norms from 133 BC would lead to the rise of Augustus and his principate.

Andrew Lintott

Andrew Lintott

Andrew William Lintott is a British classical scholar who specialises in the political and administrative history of ancient Rome, Roman law and epigraphy. He is an emeritus fellow of Worcester College, University of Oxford.

Theodor Mommsen

Theodor Mommsen

Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research. He received the 1902 Nobel Prize in Literature for being "the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, A History of Rome", after having been nominated by 18 members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He was also a prominent German politician, as a member of the Prussian and German parliaments. His works on Roman law and on the law of obligations had a significant impact on the German civil code.

Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire, Rome's control rapidly expanded during this period—from the city's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world.

Roman consul

Roman consul

A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the cursus honorum after that of the censor. Each year, the Centuriate Assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term. The consuls alternated in holding fasces – taking turns leading – each month when both were in Rome. A consul's imperium extended over Rome and all its provinces.

Centuriate Assembly

Centuriate Assembly

The Centuriate Assembly of the Roman Republic was one of the three voting assemblies in the Roman constitution. It was named the Centuriate Assembly as it originally divided Roman citizens into groups of one hundred men by classes. The centuries initially reflected military status, but were later based on the wealth of their members. The centuries gathered into the Centuriate Assembly for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. The majority of votes in any century decided how that century voted. Each century received one vote, regardless of how many electors each Century held. Once a majority of centuries voted in the same way on a given measure, the voting ended, and the matter was decided. Only the Centuriate Assembly could declare war or elect the highest-ranking Roman magistrates: consuls, praetors and censors. The Centuriate Assembly could also pass a law that granted constitutional command authority, or "Imperium", to Consuls and Praetors, and Censorial powers to Censors. In addition, the Centuriate Assembly served as the highest court of appeal in certain judicial cases, and ratified the results of a Census.

Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC.

Livy

Livy

Titus Livius, known in English as Livy, was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled Ab Urbe Condita, ''From the Founding of the City'', covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime. He was on familiar terms with members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a friend of Augustus, whose young grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, he exhorted to take up the writing of history.

First secessio plebis

First secessio plebis

The first secessio plebis was a significant event in ancient Roman political and social history that occurred between 495 and 493 BC. It involved a dispute between the patrician ruling class and the plebeian underclass, and was one of a number of secessions by the plebs and part of a broader political conflict known as the conflict of the orders.

Conflict of the Orders

Conflict of the Orders

The Conflict of the Orders, sometimes referred to as the Struggle of the Orders, was a political struggle between the plebeians (commoners) and patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic lasting from 500 BC to 287 BC in which the plebeians sought political equality with the patricians. It played a major role in the development of the Constitution of the Roman Republic. Shortly after the founding of the Republic, this conflict led to a secession from Rome by Plebeians to the Sacred Mount at a time of war. The result of this first secession was the creation of the office of plebeian tribune, and with it the first acquisition of real power by the plebeians.

Ceres (mythology)

Ceres (mythology)

In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres". Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular Ludi Ceriales. She was also honoured in the May lustration (lustratio) of the fields at the Ambarvalia festival: at harvest-time: and during Roman marriages and funeral rites. She is usually depicted as a mature woman.

Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known for having written the Histories – a detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars. Herodotus was the first writer to perform systematic investigation of historical events. He is referred to as "The Father of History", a title conferred on him by the ancient Roman orator Cicero.

The convening of the assembly was announced three market-days (nundinae) in advance. The viatores (messengers) were sent "to inform those in country districts" about the convening of the assembly.^[18] Later, for elections it was established that there should be a trinundinum, an interval of at least three market-days between the announcement of the election and the vote of the assembly, during which no legislation was permitted. The lex Caecilia Didia of 98 BC required a trinundinum interval between the announcement of a law and the vote. In the case of prosecutions before an assembly, the magistrate who presided over it was required to give "notice (diem dicere) to the accused of the first day of the investigation (inquisitio), then at the end of each hearing he announced the adjournment to the next (diem prodicere). After this there was a trinundinum interval before the assembly voted the verdict.^[19] There are disagreements among scholars about how many days this interval lasted. Mommsen proposes 24 days, Michels 25 days. Lintott gives a flexible suggestion, 17 days or more.^[20][21][22]

There could be only one assembly operating at a time. The augur Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus (who was consul in 53 BC) wrote a rule book (On Auspices). Among other things, it established that lesser magistrates could not call off (avocare, call away) an assembly which had already been convened. Thus, "whoever of them first summons the people to an election has the law on his side, because it is unlawful to take the same action twice with the people nor can one minor magistrate call away an assembly from another." However, a consul could call off a comitia or contio convened by another magistrate and a praetor could call off one summoned by other magistrates except a consul. If an assembly was called "to address a contio without laying any measure before them, it is lawful for any number of magistrates to hold a contio at the same time."^[23] Lintott suggests that this rule was intended to prevent rivalry among magistrates.^[22]

In addition to the presiding magistrate of an assembly there were several other magistrates to act as assistants. They were available to help resolve procedural disputes and to provide a mechanism for electors to appeal the decisions of the presiding magistrate.^[24] Since the Romans believed that the gods communicated their approval or disapproval with proposed actions, the presiding magistrate performed augury (the divination of the omens of the gods) the night before a meeting. There were also augurs (priests who performed augury), either in attendance or on-call, who would be available to help interpret the omens of the gods.^[25] The meeting could only proceed if the omens were favourable. On several known occasions, presiding magistrates used the claim of unfavourable omens as an excuse to suspend a session that was not going the way they wanted. If after the assembly the augurs decided that some formality had been neglected, its vote became void. In the case of elections, those persons who had been elected to an office had to resign.^[26]

There were several cases in which an assembly could be adjourned. On religious grounds, this could happen, besides when the auspices were found to be unfavourable, when the gods manifested their displeasure by rain, thunder, or lightning or if the sun set before the proceedings were completed – this was because the auspices were considered to be valid only for one day from dawn to sunset. Other reasons were the veto of a plebeian tribune and one of the assembled citizens suffering an epileptic fit (morbus comitialis). In the politically volatile years of the late Republic, at times assemblies were broken up by riots. If an assembly convened as a court, its being broken up was equivalent to an acquittal of the accused.^[26]

On the day of the vote the tribes convened at dawn. The meeting started with a prayer, unaccompanied by sacrifice.^[27] For legislative meetings the presiding magistrate was the one who proposed the bill (rogatio legis) to be voted on and after the prayer he laid his bill before the people. For electoral meetings, he announced the names of the candidates. If the meeting was for a trial, he made the people acquainted with the nature of the offence on which the people had to pass a verdict. He concluded the announcement with the words velitis, jubeatis Quirites (command your wish, citizens). A rogatio was read out by the praeco (the crier or herald). Then the contio begun. The voters were not sorted into their tribes. For legislative matters there was a debate on the rogatio in which private citizens had to ask the presiding magistrate for permission to speak. This debate took place before the bill was either vetoed or put to the vote.^[26][28] If the vote was for an election, the candidates used the contio for canvassing and there were no speeches by private citizens.^[29]

After the above, the voters were told to break up the contio and to arrange themselves by the tribes with the formula discedite, quirites (depart to your separate groups, citizens). The tribes voted one by one. The voters assembled in enclosures called saepta^[30] and voted by placing a pebble or written ballot into an appropriate jar. The baskets (cistae) that held the votes were watched by officers (the custodes) who then counted the ballots and reported the results to the presiding magistrate.^[31] The majority of votes in each tribe decided how that tribe voted. The presiding magistrate (either a consul or a praetor), always ensured that all tribes had at least five members voting, and if a tribe did not, individuals from other tribes were reassigned to the vacant places in that tribe.^[32] The order in which the tribes voted was determined by lot. An urn into which lots were cast was brought in. From then on, the plebeian tribunes were not allowed to exercise their right to veto.^[33] The first tribe to vote was called praerogativa or principium and the result of its vote was announced immediately.^[34] The tribes which voted next were called jure vocatae.^[26] When a majority of tribes had voted the same way, voting ended. The results of votes of each tribe was announced in an order also determined by lot before the announcement of the final result. This announcement was called renuntiatio.^[27] The praerogativa or principium was usually the most important tribe, because it often decided the matter through a bandwagon effect. It was believed that the order of the lot was chosen by the gods, and thus, that the position held by the tribes which voted earlier was the position of the gods.^[35] If the voting process was not complete by nightfall, the electors were dismissed and the voting had to begin again the next day.^[36] Laws passed by the comitia took effect as soon as the results were announced.^[27]

It has been speculated that the word suffragium (vote) indicates that in the early days the men in the assembly made a crash with their arms to signal approval, rather than vote. Another speculation is that the term rogatores (sing. rogator, a teller, an official who asked the people for their votes or collected votes) indicates that in later times, but before the introduction of the written ballot, the assembled men were asked to express their votes verbally and that this was recorded with marks inscribed in tablets. However, there is no evidence for either of these. The written ballot was introduced by a series of laws, the lex Gabinia tabellaria (139 BC) for elections, the lex Cassia tebellaria (137 BC) for non-capital punishment trials, the lex Papiria (131 BC) for legislation, and the lex Coelia (106 BC) for capital punishment trials (which were conducted before the comitia centuriata). This was an introduction of secret ballots which reduced undue influence or intimidation by the powerful elites, which was at times a problem during votes.^[37]

Although the order of voting was determined by lot, there was also an official order of the tribes, known as the ordo tribuum. The first four tribes were the urban tribes, in the order: Suburana, Palatina, Esquilina, Collina. The rural tribes followed, concluding with Aniensis. Crawford postulates that the rustic tribes were enumerated along the major roads leading from Rome (the Viae Ostiensis, Appia, Latina, Praenestina, Valeria, Salaria, Flaminia and Clodia), in a counter-clockwise order: Romilia, Voltinia, Voturia, Aemilia, Horatia, Maecia, Scaptia, Pomptina, Falerina, Lemonia, Papiria, Ufentina, Terentina, Pupinia, Menenia, Publilia, Cornelia, Claudia, Camilia, Aniensis, Fabia, Pollia, Sergia, Clustumina, Quirina, Velina, Stellatina, Tromentina, Galeria, Sabatina, Arniensis. This list omits the tribus Popillia, one of the earlier tribes.^[38]

The location of the meetings of the Tribal Assembly varied. Up to 145 BC were centred on the comitium, a templum (open-air space) built for public meetings at the north end of the Roman Forum. The rostra, a speaking platform on the southern side of the comitium, was used for speeches. It was also used as a tribunal; that is, as a platform to deliver the votes. Then this place became too cramped and the steps of the Temple of Castor and Pollux at the forum's south-east end were used as the tribunal. Elevated gangways (pontes) which provided access to it were built by the second century BC. Meetings were also sometimes held in the area Capitolina, an open space in front and around the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, on the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill. In the late Republic the meetings were held outside the city walls, at the Campus Martius (the Field of Mars) a large flat area which could accommodate the simultaneous voting of the tribes and thus speed up the process.^[39]

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Augur

Augur

An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying events he observed within a predetermined sacred space (templum). The templum corresponded to the heavenly space above. The augur's decisions were based on what he personally saw or heard from within the templum; they included thunder, lightning and any accidental signs such as falling objects, but in particular, birdsigns; whether the birds he saw flew in groups or alone, what noises they made as they flew, the direction of flight, what kind of birds they were, how many there were, or how they fed. This practice was known as "taking the auspices". As circumstance did not always favour the convenient appearance of wild birds or weather phenomena, domesticated chickens kept for the purpose were sometimes released into the templum, where their behaviour, particularly how they fed, could be studied by the augur.

Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus

Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus

Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus, was a Roman senator who was elected consul for 53 BC.

Roman consul

Roman consul

A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the cursus honorum after that of the censor. Each year, the Centuriate Assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term. The consuls alternated in holding fasces – taking turns leading – each month when both were in Rome. A consul's imperium extended over Rome and all its provinces.

Praetor

Praetor

Praetor, also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected magistratus (magistrate), assigned to discharge various duties. The functions of the magistracy, the praetura (praetorship), are described by the adjective: the praetoria potestas, the praetorium imperium, and the praetorium ius, the legal precedents established by the praetores (praetors). Praetorium, as a substantive, denoted the location from which the praetor exercised his authority, either the headquarters of his castra, the courthouse (tribunal) of his judiciary, or the city hall of his provincial governorship.

Augury

Augury

Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. When the individual, known as the augur, interpreted these signs, it is referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" literally means "looking at birds", and Latin auspex, another word for "augur", literally means "one who looks at birds". Depending upon the birds, the auspices from the gods could be favorable or unfavorable. Sometimes politically motivated augurs would fabricate unfavorable auspices in order to delay certain state functions, such as elections. Pliny the Elder attributes the invention of auspicy to Tiresias the seer of Thebes, the generic model of a seer in the Greco-Roman literary culture.

Omen

Omen

An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient times, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages from the gods.

Bandwagon effect

Bandwagon effect

The bandwagon effect is the tendency for people to adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so. More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can alter due to particular actions and beliefs rallying amongst the public. It is a psychological phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends increases with respect to the proportion of others who have already done so. As more people come to believe in something, others also "hop on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence.

Appian Way

Appian Way

The Appian Way is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius, of Appia longarum... regina viarum.

Via Flaminia

Via Flaminia

The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had for travel between Etruria, Latium, Campania, and the Po Valley. The section running through northern Rome is where Constantine the Great had his famous vision of the Chi Rho, leading to his conversion to Christianity and the Christianization of the Roman Empire.

Via Clodia

Via Clodia

The Via Clodia was an ancient high-road of Italy. Situated between the Via Cassia and the Via Aurelia, it is different from them notably in that the latter was designed primarily for military long-haul, irrespective of settlements they met, but the Via Clodia was of short-range, intended for commercial traffic with the colonies in Etruscan lands.

Comitium

Comitium

The Comitium was the original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome, and had major religious and prophetic significance. The name comes from the Latin word for "assembly". The Comitium location at the northwest corner of the Roman Forum was later lost in the city's growth and development, but was rediscovered and excavated by archaeologists at the turn of the twentieth century. Some of Rome's earliest monuments; including the speaking platform known as the Rostra, the Columna Maenia, the Graecostasis and the Tabula Valeria were part of or associated with the Comitium.

Roman Forum

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum, is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.

In the politically volatile and highly corrupt final years of the Roman Republic, the popular assemblies were susceptible to corruption and vulnerable to politically motivated violence by contenting political factions. The establishment of the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC effectively abolished the functions of the comitia, as the triumvirs were granted authority by the lex Titia to appoint practically all offices without consulting the senate or the people.^[40] Some actions were still passed using the assemblies, with certain laws providing for the erection of temples, the remission of rents in 41 BC, and the lex Falcidia governing inheritance in 40 BC;^[40] similarly, various laws granting the triumvirs the right to wear the civic crown^[40] were passed by plebiscite, as it would have been unseemly for them to simply have granted themselves those honours.^[40]

With the establishment of absolute rule by emperors after the fall of the Republic, the Republican assemblies were emasculated. Augustus, the first Roman emperor, became the real legislator and the comitia's role in passing laws became only a ceremonial one. He also removed the comitia's judicial functions, though these functions had fallen into disuse long before.^[41] This assembly's electoral functions also become only nominal, with the assemblies effectively being dominated by the emperor.^[42] Augustus filled half of the magistracies with his own candidates, though the magistracies as a whole had, by this point, so little political importance that imperial control over elections was minimal.^[42] His successor, Tiberius transferred the comitia's remaining electoral authority to the senate.^[42] Although the emperors received many of their powers from the comitia tributa, this was only a formality. The comitia tributa continued to exist until the third century AD, but its remaining functions were only symbolic. It took auspices and gave prayer. It conferred the emperor's legislative powers and other authority only in a ceremonial manner. It proclaimed the laws presented to it for approval by acclamatio, rather than a real vote.^[27]

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Second Triumvirate

Second Triumvirate

The Second Triumvirate was an extraordinary commission and magistracy created for Mark Antony, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Octavian to give them practically absolute power. It was formally constituted by law on 27 November 43 BC with a term of five years; it was renewed in 37 BC for another five years before expiring in 32 BC. Constituted by the lex Titia, the triumvirs were given broad powers to make or repeal legislation, issue judicial punishments without due process or right of appeal, and appoint all other magistrates. The triumvirs also split the Roman world into three sets of provinces.

Lex Titia

Lex Titia

The lex Titia was a Roman law passed on 27 November 43 BC that established the Triumvirate of Octavian, Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus for five years until the end of 38 BC. The triumvirate established by the law was then renewed in 38 BC. Unlike the so-called First Triumvirate, which was a private arrangement among three men, the Second Triumvirate was a legal instrument which created a formal legal framework to empower the three triumvirs with practically absolute power.

Tiberius

Tiberius

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father was the politician Tiberius Claudius Nero and his mother was Livia Drusilla, who would eventually divorce his father, and marry the future-emperor Augustus in 38 BC. Following the untimely deaths of Augustus' two grandsons and adopted heirs, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Tiberius was designated Augustus' successor. Prior to this, Tiberius had proved himself an able diplomat, and one of the most successful Roman generals: his conquests of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and (temporarily) parts of Germania laid the foundations for the empire's northern frontier.

Acclamatio

Acclamatio

In Ancient Roman and Byzantine tradition, acclamatio was the public expression of approbation or disapprobation, pleasure or displeasure, etc., by loud acclamations. On many occasions, there appear to have been certain forms of acclamations always used by the Romans; as, for instance, at marriages, Io Hymen, Hymenaee, or Talassio; at triumphs, Io triumphe, Io triumphe; at the conclusion of plays the last actor called out Plaudite to the spectators; orators were usually praised by such expressions as Bene et praeclare, Belle et festive, Non potest melius, etc.

The 35 tribes were not ethnic or kinship groups, but geographic divisions into which Roman citizens were distributed. They were administrative districts which served for the purposes of taxation, the military levy and for the registration of Roman citizens. This registration occurred regularly during the census and the names of citizens and their families were entered in the registers of the tribes. Lintott notes that 'the tribe was the critical indicator of Roman citizenship' for the adult sons of Roman fathers and also for 'those incorporated into the citizen body from the outside'. A man who came of age was enrolled as a new adult in the tribe of his father and could change it only through adoption into another family. Inhabitants of Italic towns who were incorporated into the Roman state by being given Roman citizenship were also registered in tribes. Consequently, "the tribe might therefore, came to bear little relationship to the whereabouts of the citizen's domicile or property."^[43] With regard to the tribal assembly, the tribes were its voting districts. Each tribe had further subdivisions, which in the urban tribes were called vici (sing. vicus, in an urban context it meant neighbourhood) and in the rural tribes were called pagi (sing. pagus – which were rural sub-districts with a number of vici (which in a rural context meant villages and hamlets) and had a fortress. Professional guilds (collegia), were organised along tribal lines.

The tribes were originally presided over by tribuni aerarii (tribunes of the public treasury) who had the tribal register and collected the property tax and paid the soldiers registered in the tribe.^[44] Later this title became obsolete and the heads of the tribes were called curatores tribuum.^[45] Besides these curatores there were also the divisores tribuum who were treasurers. These two types of officials probably had their own registers; the curatores were involved in the census.^[8] By the late republic, their main task was to distribute bribes. Because tribal membership was re-registered once every five years in each census, it became possible to crudely gerrymander the tribes. While land could never be taken away from a tribe, the "censors" had the power to allocate new lands to existing tribes as a part of the Census. Thus, the censors had the power to apportion tribes in a manner that might be advantageous to them or to their partisans.^[32]

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Roman tribe

Roman tribe

A tribus, or tribe, was a division of the Roman people for military, censorial, and voting purposes. When constituted in the comitia tributa, the tribes were the voting units of a legislative assembly of the Roman Republic.

Italic peoples

Italic peoples

The Italic peoples were an ethnolinguistic group identified by their use of Italic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family.

Pagus

Pagus

In ancient Rome, the Latin word pagus was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages, and strongholds serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geographical term. From the reign of Diocletian onwards, the pagus referred to the smallest administrative unit of a province. These geographical units were used to describe territories in the Merovingian and Carolingian periods, without any political or administrative meaning.

Roman censor

Roman censor

The censor was a magistrate in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances.